Primo Jr
}} The Primo Jr is a 4×4 TLR camera made by Tōkyō Kōgaku (maker of the Topcon cameras) in 1958–1959. It was available in various configurations — metered, unmetered, grey-finished, and rebadged as the Sawyer's Mark IV for the Sawyer's company in Portland, Oregon. Context The Primo Jr was made during the brief 4×4 camera boom of the late 1950s. It was released one year after the 1957 Rolleiflex Baby Grey, and was the first Japanese 4×4 TLRs, beating the Yashica-44 by a small margin: both models were announced in magazines dated May 1958 but the Primo Jr was advertised the same month whereas the Yashica was advertised from July. , pp.399 and 410. Among 4×4 "superslide" TLR cameras, the Primo Jr was lauded for the bright viewfinder, and the sharp Topcor 60 f/2.8 taking lens. Other features include pop-up sports finder and magnifier, crank wind instead of dial wind (a luxury feature in 4×4 TLRs of those days), bright Toko 60 f/2.8 viewing lens, solid build and luxury finish. It is comparable in quality to the 4×4 Rolleiflex. Description The Primo Jr has the classical TLR shape. The front standard moves back and forth for focusing. The focus knob is on the photographer's left; it contains a film reminder and has a distance scale engraved in metres or in feet and depth-of-field indications. The camera focuses down to 0.65 metre or 2.2 feet, which is quite close compared to its competitors. The film is advanced by a crank on the photographer's right, and the shutter is wound at the same time. There is a round exposure counter window on the same side, near the strap lug. The exposure counter is activated by a button sliding to the rear, placed above the advance crank and protected by a smaller lock button. The advance crank may jam due to improper activation of the exposure counter while there is no film in the camera; in that case the instruction manual recommends to open the back and manually turn the film-sensing wheel until the exposure counter is freed again, then to press the release button. The position of the first exposure is set via a red window at the bottom of the back, protected by a vertically sliding cover. The L-shaped back is locked by a large knob surrounding the tripod thread, with O'' and ''C indications and the word JAPAN. The viewing hood contains a sportsfinder and a large magnifying lens. The viewing screen has parallax indications and a Fresnel lens, called "Toko Bright" in the advertisements. Advertisements dated May 1959 and July 1960 reproduced in , p.274. The unmetered model has a regular nameplate, with PRIMO–JR and the serial number. The Primo Jr has a Seikosha-SLV or Seikosha-MXL shutter (B, 1–500), and the aperture range goes from 2.8 to 22. The release button is at the bottom of the front standard and has a thread for a cable release; there is a PC synch socket on the opposite side and the camera has no self-timer. The shutter speed is set by a lever placed next to the taking lens, on the photographer's right. There is a Light Value scale going from 3 to 18 on the opposite side, inscribed on a black plate surrounding the taking lens and rotating together with the speed lever. Shutter speed and aperture are interlinked mechanically so that once one sets the proper Light Value, moving the shutter lever will automatically adjust the aperture and retain the same total exposure. For example, if one were to set the camera to 1/50 at f/11 and then move the shutter dial to 1/100, the camera will automatically change the aperture to f/8 and so on. The speed and aperture both appear in a window placed above the viewing lens, visible by the photographer in the normal picture-taking position. The aperture can be set by using the left-hand lever and looking in this window, without using the Light-Value system. The taking lens is a four-element Topcor 6cm f/2.8, and the viewing lens is a Toko 6cm f/2.8 triplet. Number of elements: instruction manual reproduced here at butkus.org. They have bayonet attachments for filters and a hood. Commercial life and evolution Meterless Primo Jr, Seikosha-MXL The meterless Primo Jr was announced in Japanese camera magazines dated May and June 1958, and Japanese advertisements are reported from May 1958 to June 1960. , p.399. The advertisement in the May 1959 issue of Asahi Camera, placed by the distributor Ōsawa Shōkai, lists the Primo Jr, called "44 Primo JR" (44プリモJR), with Seikosha-MXL shutter, at the price of (case included), as well as the Primo Look projector, for 4×4cm and 35mm slides. Advertisement reproduced in , p.274. The Primo Jr was distributed in the US by Beseler, and the price in 1959 was $69.95. In late 1959, the Primo Jr was offered for free to any buyer of a Beseler B Topcon (costing $295.00), as part of a promotional offer ending on 15 January 1960. Copy of an advertisement observed in an online auction. The regular examples with Seikosha-MXL shutter have an M/F/X selector under the taking lens, for electronic flash or different types of flash bulbs. The shutter name SEIKOSHA–MXL is inscribed on the black plate with the Light Value scale. This plate also has the company name, either TOKYO KOGAKU or TOKYO OPTICAL CO. The inside of the back is inscribed TOKYO OPTICAL CO. on most examples, but perhaps not all. The grey example pictured here at the 44 Club seems to have no marking inside the back, and it is not known if the cameras with TOKYO KOGAKU have a company name inside. The cameras with TOKYO KOGAKU are engraved Tokyo Kogaku on both lens rims and have no logo on the viewing hood; it seems that they are early production examples, with known body numbers in the 26xxxx range. Example reported here at Frugal Photographer. (The camera pictured in the user manual has body no.260016 and taking lens no.26001x; this is probably a hint that the number sequence started at 260001.) Instruction manual reproduced here at butkus.org. Later cameras have TOKYO OPTICAL CO. and no company name on the lens rims. At least one of these is known with no logo on the hood. Example pictured in this page of SF World of Photos. All subsequent ones, with known body numbers in the 27xxxx and 28xxxx range, have a round TKK TOKO logo. The highest body number observed so far is 284494, and a rough estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 can be given for the total production of the meterless model with Seikosha-MXL, including the grey edition and the Sawyer's Mark IV. Grey edition The meterless Primo Jr with Seikosha-MXL also exists in a grey edition, probably made for the Japanese market only. Examples pictured here at Chronofile and here and here at the 44 Club. No grey example has yet been observed outside Japan. The main body, viewing hood, front standard, nameplate and back are painted light grey, and the base of the viewing hood has a hammertone paint of a different shade of grey. The sideplates, back and film flange are covered with light grey leatherette. The distance scale and the Light-Value scale are silver and the depth-of-field scale is light grey, all with black markings. The grey edition of the Primo Jr is pictured in the May 1959 advertisement in Asahi Camera cited above, even if the graphical design of the advertisement does not make this obvious. Sawyer's Mark IV The Sawyer's Mark IV is a rebadged version of the meterless Primo Jr with Seikosha-MXL. The nameplate reads SAWYER'S MARK IV and the viewing hood has a round SAWYER'S IV logo. The first examples have the company name TOKYO OPTICAL CO. on the Light-Value scale; Example pictured here and here at SF World of Photos, and example observed for sale at a dealer. this marking quickly became SAWYER'S JAPAN, LTD. It seems that all the cameras have TOKYO OPTICAL CO. inside the back. The Sawyer's Mark IV was distributed by Sawyer's Inc., Portland. Instruction manual reproduced in this page at onetwoseven.org.uk. It is not known if the name Sawyer's Japan Ltd. inscribed on the camera and repeated on the user manual effectively corresponds to a Japanese sub-company of Sawyer's or merely a dummy name for Tōkyō Kōgaku. The known body and lens numbers for the Sawyer's Mark IV are in the 26xxxx or 27xxxx range, and are mixed with the numbers of the corresponding Primo Jr. Metered Primo Jr The metered Primo Jr was announced in a column of the March 1960 issue of Shashin Salon, about the 1960 Japan Camera Show; it was later featured in other magazines dated June and July and was advertised from July to October. , p.399. The July advertisement in Asahi Camera gives the same price of , and the camera is called "44 Primo JR", the same as in the May 1959 advertisement. Advertisement reproduced in , p.274. The exposure meter takes the place of the nameplate; the selenium cell is to the photographer's left and the galvanometer is on the opposite side. The meter needle is above the galvanometer and the ASA setting is at the front, with the words ASA INDEX inscribed in red. There is a small PRIMO–JR nameplate below the ASA setting, and the serial number is engraved behind the galvanometer. All the examples of the metered Primo Jr known so far have the Seikosha-MXL shutter, the TOKYO OPTICAL CO. engraving and the logo on the viewing hood. The body numbers are in the 25xxxx range, even if the camera was released after the meterless model. The lens numbers are in the 26xxxx and 27xxxx ranges, the same as on the previous models. The highest body number seen so far is 253371, for a rough production estimate of less than 5,000. Meterless Primo Jr, Seikosha-SLV The meterless Primo Jr was modified at some time. The late Primo Jr has a Seikosha-SLV shutter, keeping the Light-Value system connecting the speed and aperture, but getting rid of the M/F/X selector and providing X-synch only. Other changes are visible: a shutter lock is added around the release button, the back latch has a slightly different shape, there is an additional pressure spring inside the back for the take-up spool, and a small hump behind the exposure counter activation button, absent on the previous examples. All the examples with Seikosha-SLV observed so far have a body number and lens numbers in the 36xxxx range, One example is reported in this page at Frugal Photographer with body no.365151, taking lens no.279229 and viewing lens no.275397, perhaps by mistake. and all have the company name TOKYO OPTICAL CO. and no logo on the hood. The highest body number seen so far is 364359, for a rough production estimate of 5,000 units. Notes Bibliography * Pp.31–2. * Items 1511–2. * P. 98. * Pp. 870 and 924. * Items 2223–4 and 2254. Links In English: * Primo Jr (with and without meter) at Frugal Photographer * Sawyer's Mark IV in Dschneller's Flickr space * Sawyer's Mark IV by Karl Bryan at medfmt * Sawyer's Mark IV at onetwoseven.org.uk, with a link to a downloadable English user manual (pdf document) * Instruction manual for the Primo Jr and for the Sawyer's Mark IV at butkus.org's instruction manual library In Japanese: * Pages of the 44 Club: ** How to use the Primo Jr, showing a grey and a black camera ** Primo Jr and Sawyer's Mark IV side by side ** Primo Jr vs Topcoflex, scroll down to see a grey and a black camera together ** List of 4×4cm TLRs * Primo Jr (Seikosha-SLV) at Hayata Camera Laboratory * Primo Jr (grey model) at Chronofile * Sawyer's Mark IV at Cam's * Pages of the Topcon Club website ** Other Topcon cameras, including the Primo Jr ** Primo Jr vs Topcoflex * Pages at Asacame: ** Primo Jr, Minolta Miniflex and Walz Automat 44 ** Japanese 4×4 TLRs, including the Primo Jr * Sawyer's Mark IV alone and with a Primo Jr at SF World of Photos * Sawyer's Mark IV at Hashimoto Masaru's website * Sawyer's Mark IV at Tarosworld * Primo Jr in a page by Rikisan * Sawyer's Mark IV in a page of wanted cameras in the je2luz camera site * Primo Jr (with and without meter) and other 4×4 TLRs at [http://blogs.dion.ne.jp/antiqu/ Nana-chōme no tabe (click on the picture to enlarge) In Chinese: * Sawyer's Mark IV among other 4×4 TLRs at www.chinesecamera.net Category: Japanese 4x4 TLR Category: Topcon Category: P